Martin Kwaku Ayisi

Martin Kwaku Ayisi is a lawyer with over twenty-one years’ experience and practice in mining and oil & gas laws and policies. He has been actively involved in the mining and petroleum sectors in West and East Africa and has assisted in the development of country mining strategies and regulatory systems to enhance good governance in the extractive sector. He was a consultant on sector policy, legal and regulatory reforms for the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining of Kenya from 2014-2018.  He has also served as a consultant on extractives for OXFORD Policy Management, GIZ, Adam Smith International, UNECA, IDLO, IISD among others and is a regular speaker on mining and oil and gas laws and policies across the world.

He joined the Minerals Commission in April 2002 and rose through the ranks and was appointed a member of the Board of the Minerals Commission in 2017 and later became a Deputy Chief Executive Officer and  has since March 2021 the substantive Chief Executive Officer.

Aside of being a qualified lawyer, Mr Ayisi holds:

1.       Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Resource Development and a minor in Political Science from the University of Ghana

2.       LLM Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law from the University of Calgary in Canada:

3.       LLM in Mineral Law from the University of Dundee in Scotland; and

4.       A Master of Public Administration and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ghana.

Martin was also a visiting teaching fellow/adjunct lecturer in the LLM oil & Gas Programe at Strathmore University in Kenya and has some published journal articles to his credit.

(i) Martin Kwaku Ayisi, “Ghana’s New Mining Law: Enhancing the Security of Mineral Tenure” (2009) 27 Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law 66-96.

(ii) Martin Kwaku Ayisi, “The review of Mining Laws and the Renegotiation of Mining Agreements in Africa: Recent Development from Ghana” (2015) 16(3) Journal of World Investment and Trade 467-505.

(iii) Martin Kwaku Ayisi “The Legal Character of Mineral Rights under the new mining law of Kenya” (2017) 35(1) Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law 25-86 .

He is currently a member of the Board of Mineral Development Fund in Ghana, the Ghana Integrated Aluminium and Development Corporation and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Development Corporation.